Correct Answer: how and when to restore original place names
Passage Reference: Our province now plans to restore many of the original names on road signs, maps and transit announcements.
Why this is correct: The province plans to restore the original names. The editorial weighs how quickly it should happen, who pays and who decides the spelling.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, find the plan in the first paragraph and the “real questions” the paper lists. Every speaker answers one of them.
Why the other options are wrong:
- whether to build a new highway exit: Highway exits are mentioned only as places with names or signs. Nobody proposes building a new one.
- how to attract more summer visitors: Visitors come up only in Ellery’s worry about missed turnoffs. Nobody plans to attract more of them.
- why tourists should stop using guidebooks: Ellery says visitors follow older guidebooks, but nobody says they should stop using them.
Correct Answer: Clarisse Ellery
Passage Reference: she worries they will miss turnoffs while the signs are changing
Why this is correct: Clarisse Ellery runs a canoe business. She worries that visitors following older guidebooks and phone maps will miss turnoffs while the signs are changing.
Tips: Look at who each speaker is thinking about: children, budgets, visitors or spelling. Then match the group in the question to one speaker.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Manon Archambault: Manon Archambault wants the original names to lead within five years. She does not talk about visitors getting lost.
- Valentin Kucera: Valentin Kucera worries about the cost of changing every sign at once, not about visitors missing turnoffs.
- Severin Beaudry: Severin Beaudry is concerned about who decides spellings, not about visitors finding their way.
Correct Answer: findings that few students know their local place names
Passage Reference: citing a school survey in which few students could name a single local place in the language
Why this is correct: Archambault argues that children learn from the names around them. She cites a survey in which few students could name a local place in the language. Findings like this support her case.
Tips: Archambault backs her quote with a school survey. The right choice is more proof of that same kind.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a cost estimate for replacing every sign: A cost estimate would support Kucera’s warning about the budget, not Archambault’s argument about children and names.
- reports of drivers missing their exits: Missed exits would support Ellery’s worry about visitors, not Archambault’s case.
- examples of spellings no speaker would use: Examples of spellings that speakers reject would support Beaudry’s point about who controls spelling, not Archambault’s argument.
Correct Answer: highways and emergency routes would change first
Passage Reference: He proposes a staged plan that starts with highways and emergency routes
Why this is correct: Kucera proposes a staged plan that starts with highways and emergency routes.
Tips: Kucera’s plan is “staged”, so notice the order of events. Read the sentence that begins “He proposes”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- every sign would be replaced in one summer: Kucera warns that replacing every sign in one summer would empty the road budget, so his plan avoids it.
- parks would be renamed before any highway: Kucera puts highways and emergency routes first, not parks.
- the old names would stay on signs for good: Kucera supports the change. His plan is about the order of the work, not keeping the old names.
Correct Answer: to explain where many current names came from
Passage Reference: names were chosen by surveyors more than a century ago, often on top of names the local First Nation had used for far longer
Why this is correct: The editorial says many current names were chosen by surveyors more than a century ago. They were often put on top of older names used by the local First Nation. So the detail explains where today’s names came from.
Tips: When a question asks why the writer mentions a detail, ask what that detail does for the reader. Here it comes before the plan is even named.
Why the other options are wrong:
- to praise the province’s early map makers: The paper does not praise the early map makers. It says their work often covered much older place names.
- to show that the old maps were accurate: Nothing in the passage discusses whether the old maps were accurate.
- to suggest that surveyors choose the new names: The paper wants the Nation’s approved spellings. It never suggests surveyors should choose.
Correct Answer: a recording of how each name sounds
Passage Reference: She also wants a recording of how each name sounds built into transit apps from the first day.
Why this is correct: Archambault wants a recording of how each name sounds built into transit apps from the first day.
Tips: The comment says “from the first day”. Find the sentence where Archambault uses those same words and read what she wants built into apps.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a map of every renamed lake: Archambault does not ask for a map of lakes in transit apps. She wants recordings of how names sound.
- a daily quiz on the new names: A quiz is never mentioned in the editorial.
- a list of the old English names: Archambault wants the original names to lead. She never asks for the old names to be listed in apps.
Correct Answer: empty the winter road budget
Passage Reference: warns that replacing every sign in one summer would empty the winter road budget
Why this is correct: Kucera warns that replacing every sign in one summer would empty the winter road budget.
Tips: Kucera supports the change but warns about doing it all at once. Read to the end of that sentence to see what he fears would happen.
Why the other options are wrong:
- close the highway for a month: Kucera never says the highway would have to close. His worry is money.
- confuse the emergency crews: Kucera puts emergency routes first in his plan, but he never says crews would be confused.
- delay the new bridge project: No bridge project is mentioned in the editorial.
Correct Answer: souvenir shops
Passage Reference: He has seen souvenir shops print spellings that no speaker would recognize
Why this is correct: Beaudry, the Elder, says he has seen souvenir shops print spellings that no speaker would recognize.
Tips: The comment calls him “the Elder”. Find the sentence that starts “He has seen” and look for who printed the wrong spellings.
Why the other options are wrong:
- highway crews: Highway crews are never blamed for spellings in the editorial.
- school textbooks: Schools come up only in Archambault’s survey. Textbooks are never mentioned.
- tourism websites: Ellery talks about guidebooks and phone maps, but Beaudry’s complaint is about souvenir shops.
Correct Answer: a list approved by the Nation
Passage Reference: he wants a list approved by the Nation to be the only source for public signs
Why this is correct: Beaudry wants a list approved by the Nation to be the only source for public signs.
Tips: Beaudry says the community must decide how names are written. His second sentence tells you what the only source for signs should be.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the province’s own dictionary: Beaudry says the community itself must decide spellings, not the province.
- whatever the old maps show: The old maps carry the surveyors’ names, which the plan is replacing, so Beaudry would not use them.
- a vote by local residents: Beaudry wants the Nation to decide spellings. A vote of all local residents is never suggested.
Correct Answer: publish the costs as the work goes
Passage Reference: fund temporary signs with both names where drivers need them, and publish the costs as the work goes
Why this is correct: In its recommendation, the editorial asks the province to publish the costs as the work goes.
Tips: The paper’s list of steps is in the “The province should” sentence. The blank matches the last step in that list.
Why the other options are wrong:
- let each town pick its own spellings: The paper wants only the Nation’s approved spellings, not a choice by each town.
- take the old names off every map: Look at the last paragraph: the paper wants both names on signs where drivers need them during the change.
- finish all the signs by next summer: The recommendation is a five-year schedule, not a one-summer deadline.
